Industrial Autoclaves

An Autoclave Designed for Industry, Not Healthcare

At one time all autoclaves were basically the same—and basically indistinguishable from grandma’s pressure cooker. Over the last century these devices have been steadily optimized for medical uses. Without a doubt, these modern FDA-regulated medical autoclaves save lives. But while they are invaluable in hospitals, clinics, and medical offices, modern medical-grade autoclaves are far too wasteful for use outside a strictly medical setting.

Research Autoclaves Do More, Cost Less

Since 1988 Priorclave has established itself as the premier engineering firm bringing autoclave technology to any industry. Instead of focusing on medical autoclaves—which must be optimized for fast through-put, FDA-compliant cycles, and processing clean surgical instruments and supplies—we build general-purpose research autoclaves. These are substantially more energy and water efficient, flexible, extremely durable, and low-maintenance.

We manufacture almost every component in each Priorclave industrial autoclave in our South London facility. This both guarantees quality and drastically widens the range of custom designs we can deliver. Researchers, technicians, and autoclave operators regularly come to us when they need an innovative application for computer-controlled industrial steam sterilization. Bring your challenge to us, the more interesting the better.

Industrial Autoclaves: Sterilization and Beyond

Our industrial sterilizers are used throughout the world in pharmaceutical and life science laboratories. They are set to both traditional tasks—like sterilizing glassware and instruments—and preparing biological growth media (where the flexible programming options offered by our Tactrol Control System are renowned for virtually eliminating “morning down time”). But sterilization isn’t limited to the laboratory: many dairy operations, food processors, and even some wineries and microbreweries now rely on small industrial autoclaves.

Fool-Proof Industrial Sterilizers

Industrial autoclave adoption has been slowed by the perception that all autoclaves are medical devices—complex and delicate, demanding special training, certification, and intense maintenance schedules. This is no longer the case: Priorclave industrial and research sterilizers come equipped with the industry-proven Tactrol Control System, offering ease of use without sacrificing powerful programming capabilities. This clean, direct interface allows qualified operators full access to every control parameter, from the usual temperature and dwell time, to precise control of temperature ramps, holds and setpoints, vacuum periods and timing, chamber pressure, and cycle times up to 999 minutes, with consecutive repeat cycles of up to 999 iterations. More importantly, skilled operators can program specific approved cycles—so less-experienced techs can work with confidence—or even lock the unit into a single cycle with fool-proof “one-touch” start. For added safety, the Tactrol system uses a permission-based door release system, making it virtually impossible to inadvertently open the autoclave mid-cycle–a feature conspicuously absent from many other industrial autoclaves.

A Sound Investment

Our customer relationship doesn’t end with shipping an autoclave; that’s just the beginning. Priorclave-built industrial autoclaves have been used for decades throughout the developing world, often under the most challenging conditions. Our Tactrol Control System can cope with frequent power fluctuations, while our seals and fittings are designed for easy maintenance and replacement. This extensive real-world “field testing” is incorporated into every new autoclave we design and build.